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Established 1948    Billy F. Watson 13 August 1945 - 21 August 1967 Texas Corporal Battery C 1st Battalion 44th Artilery Vietnam Bronze Star Medal - Purple Heart Wall of Faces is honored on Panel 25E, Row 26 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Sherman Democrat August 23, 1967 pgs 1 & 14 SHERMAN SOLDIER KILLED IN ACTION Billy Frank Watson, 22, of Sherman, Texas, was killed Monday in Vietnam. His unit was ambushed about 1 p.m. He died of "multiple fragment" wounds, the telegram to his parents said. The parents are Mr. and Mrs. Noel Watson of 1405 N. Cleveland. The father is employed by Quaker Oats Co. in Sherman. No other details were given the family by the Army. Special 4th Class Watson was a gunner on a tank. He was sent to Vietnam last October and had written his parents August 12 that he had "only 70 more days to go" before returning home. Young Watson's last letter was written on Saturday, August 12. In it he wrote: "We are going back up to the rockpile to stay another month...I have been busy the last two days getting the guns in good shape and tuned up... Well, 70 more days to go and I will be out. I'm keeping a close watch on it... "Well, tomorrow is my birthday ( his 22nd). I probably won't get to celebrate it very much... "It won't be long until Joan (his little sister) will start to school. Tell her to be good and I will take her to get a soda when I get home." The news first reached Mrs. Watson at her home about 3 p.m. Tuesday. Mr. Watson was at work at the time. It was brought by an old Army man, a master sergeant from Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, who brought with Dr. Tom Brandon, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Sherman. The Wednesday morning the telegram arrived from the Department of the Army in Washington. A military funeral will be held in Sherman after arrival here of the body, which may be during the weekend. Burial will be in the Cedarlawn Memorial Park. Waldo Funeral Home has charge of arrangements. Young Watson was born in Sherman August 13, 1945. Billy was graduated at Sherman High School in May 1963. He worked for Walter Capps' service station for a time before entering the Army on October 22, 1965. He received military training at Ft. Polk, Louisiana and Ft. Bliss, Texas. Besides his parents and sister, Joan, Specialist Watson is survived by a brother, Noel C. Watson, Jr. of Sherman; and his grandfather, C. Andrews of Whitesboro, route 2. He was the third man from Sherman to die in the Vietnam War. Sherman Democrat The
body of Sp-4 Billy Frank Watson, 22, who was killed in Vietnam Monday,
August 21, 1967 is scheduled to arrive in Sherman about 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon at Waldo
Funeral Chapel with burial in Cedarlawn Memorial Park, under the
direction of Waldo Funeral Home. Full military honors were
accorded at the grave site by an Army honor guard from Ft. Sill,
Oklahoma.   Cedarlawn Cemetery Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |